Major Movements in Psychology

Jungian Analytical Psychology

What was Jung’s relationship with mysticism?

Jung was always drawn to mysticism and late in life he traveled extensively to learn about the spiritual practices of other cultures. He visited the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico, he traveled to Kenya and India and he collaborated on studies of various Eastern religions. He viewed the symbolism in all the religious traditions as expressions of universal archetypes. Jung’s view of mental health was also religiously tinged. Our happiness is dependent upon our communion with a universal reality that is part of us but yet larger than us. In his concept of the collective unconscious, he combined psychology, evolutionary biology, and the spiritual traditions of many diverse cultures.